ICICI Bank board on Monday approved sale of 6% stake in its life insurance arm ICICI Prudential Life to two investors, including Premji Invest, for about Rs 1,950 crore.

While 4% stake will be sold to Premji Invest & its affiliates, 2% will be sold to Compassvale Investments, a subsidiary of Singapore-based investment company Temasek, the bank said.

The statement said that upon completion of the transaction, ICICI Bank will hold approximately 68% share of the company. Prudential — ICICI Bank’s joint venture partner — will maintain its current share of approximately 26%.
The company added that the proposed transaction values the company at Rs 32,500 crore.

ICICI Prudential Life was among the first private sector life insurance companies to begin operations in December 2000 after receiving approval from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (Irdai).
Its capital infused stood at Rs 4,816 crore as on March, 2015. In FY15, the company garnered a premium
of R15,307 crore and has assets under management of R1,00,183 crore as on March 2015.

In October, the private sector lender had said its board approved sale of 9% stake in ICICI Lombard General Insurance to its Canadian partner Faifax Financial Holdings.

Asked whether it would look at diluting its stake in ICICI Prudential Life, Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, said at its Q2 FY16 conference call, “We have continuously said that we will look at monetising and that approach stays. Beyond that I am not in a position to say anything.”

In August, Standard Life had announced plans to buy 9% additional stake in its Indian insurance venture HDFC Life to raise its ownership to 35%, valuing HDFC Life at Rs 18,951.4 crore.

The same month, FIPB approved Tokio Marine’s plan to raise stake in its Indian JV partner Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance to 49% from 26%. British insurer, Aviva also announced its plan to raise stake in its Indian JV with Dabur Invest Corp to 49%.

Stake dilution
* Upon completion of the transaction, ICICI Bank will hold approximately 68% share of the company, it said
in a statement
* Prudential — ICICI Bank’s joint venture partner — will maintain its current share of approximately 26%
* In FY15, the company garnered a premium of R15,307 crore and has assets under management of Rs 1,00,183 crore as on March 2015